EC to transgenders: We want you to vote in the assembly polls

The Delhi Election Commission is organising special registration camps to enlist voters from marginalised groups such as the transgender community and homeless people for the coming Assembly elections.\n

31st August 2013 09:28

Alessia Valenza

So far, 439 transgenders have registered themselves in the electoral list. They number more than 8,500 in the city.

"Getting transgenders enrolled in the voters’ list is part of our efforts to bring people from the marginalised sections of society into the mainstream. We are also focusing on registering sex workers and homeless people," Vijay Dev, Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi, told Newsline. "If the marginalised sections get voting rights, politicians start caring for them as potential voters. We want the maximum number of such people in the voting age to be enrolled in the electoral list so that they can vote in the coming elections," Dev added.

But the transgender community, first recognised by the Election Commission (EC) under the ‘Other’ category in 2010, feels sensitisation of electoral staff still has a long way to go.